Fastener applying device



June 12, 1956 H. J. SPENCER FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 31. 1954 IN VEN TOR. Mgw

June 12, 1956 2,749,547

H. J SPENCER FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE Filed March 31, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

June 12. 1956 H. J. SPENCER FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 51, 1954 1 N V EN TOR.

United States Patent FASTENER APPLYING DEVICE Herman J. Spencer, Ingomar, Pa.

Application March 31, 1954, Serial No. 420,079 2 Claims. or. 1-3

This invention relates to improvements in a device for stapling multiple thicknesses of material together.

This application is a combination of the device shown in my Patents No. 2,617,097 and No. 2,427,028, with the improvements being in the apparatus shown in the latter patent.

It is desirable, in numerous instances, to secure multiple thicknesses of material together where only the upper thickness is accessible. A familiar example is the securing together of the lapped side and end flaps of the conventional corrugated board box.

In my Patent No. 2,427,028, the driver, on being lowered to drive a staple, also held and actuated the projections of the die plates towards each other a set amount to thereby impart a curve to the legs of a staple being driven. These projections are sharpened to facilitate partial penetration thereby of a thickness of material to be stapled and some tough materials will hold these pro jections inwardly at an undesirable position to thereby force the projections to impart an undesired curvature to the legs of the staple being driven.

One object of this invention is to provide means whereby the extended projections of the die plates are rigidly held apart as the device is placed against the material, are released from their latter position and then rigidly urged towards each other to impart a desired curve to the legs of a staple as the driver moves the staple into the material.

Another object of this invention is to bend or curve the legs of a staple inwardly at opposite angles to each other to increase the area of the material being gripped and to twist the legs thereof to strengthen the legs of the staple against being unbent.

Still another object is to provide a spring driven driver which will have greater speed and provide more uniform driving of the staples to give better penetration and uniformity to each operation of the device.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate a present preferred embodiment of my invention Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device with the parts in their starting position;

Figure 2 is an end elevation with the lower front wall cut away and the forming bar removed to illustrate the parts in the same positions shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the device with the parts shown after a staple has been driven;

Figure 4 is an end elevation similar to Figure 2 but showing the driver as having been lowered to thereby partially drive and form a staple;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view through lapped thicknesses of corrugated board illustrating the condition of the staple after it has been fully driven;

Figure 6 is an elevation of one of the die plates which effect the progressive bending and twisting of the entering ends of the staple legs;

Figure 7 is an edge view thereof;

Figure 8 is an end view elevation similar to Figure 2,

showing the parts after a staple has been completely driven and thereby corresponding to Figure 3;

Figure 9 is a plan view of one of the control arms;

Figure 10 is an end view thereof;

Figure 11 is a front elevation of the driver;

Figure 12 is a side view thereof.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the assembled frame 1 of the machine has a longitudinally extending bottom wall 2 with upwardly extending sidewardly walls 3 which form the sidewardly vertical guides for the driver 10. A vertical transversely extending cross-member 4 integrally joins the front upper portions of the side walls 3 of the frame 1 to provide a front vertical guide wall for the driver 10. The lower edge of the cross-member 4 is notched centrally to provide an opening which exposes part of the driver 10 to thereby permit engagement of the cam 54 of the forming bar 55 with the uppermost part of the front side of the driver 10. See Figures 1 and 2. Guide plates 5 are welded flatwise to the inwardly sides of the side walls 3 of the frame 1 and their vertical edges 6 are the rearwardly guides for the driver 10.

A rocker arm 15 is pivotally mounted between the side walls 3 of the frame 1 on shaft 17. A link 16 is pivotally connected at one end to the rocker arms 15 by pin 50 and link 16 at its other end is operatively connected at 14 to the driver 10 in a manner covered by applicants Patent No. 2,617,097 to reciprocate the driver 10. The left-hand end of the bolt 23 is pivoted to the rear ends of the rocker arms 15 by pin 24. A thrust washer 25 fits loosely around the left-hand end of the bolt 23 so that the bolt and washer can move relative to each other. A coil spring 26 fits around the bolt 23 and has one end pressing against the thrust washer 25 and its other end pressing against a swivel block 22. This swivel block is slidably mounted on the right-hand end of the bolt 23 and is pivotally mounted on the rearward end of the hand-lever 20 in slots which are open towards the front end of the hand-lever. The end of the bolt 23 which extends rearwardly through the swivel block 22 is threaded to receive nut 27. See Figure 1.

The hand-lever 20 is pivotally mounted at its forward end on pin 21 which is supported in the frame sides 3. A bracket 28 which acts to limit the downward movement of the staple driver at the end of the driving stroke, as later explained, is secured to the underside of and movable with the hand-lever 20. A spring 29 is coiled around pin 17 and it has one leg pressing against the rocker arm 15 to urge it clockwise in reverse fastener applying direction to thereby raise the driver 10. See Figures 1 and 3.

A U-shaped gate 7 has a transversely extending web 8 for closing the lower portion of the front end of the device and web 8 is in vertical alignment with the crossmember 4 of the frame 1 to thereby act as the lower part of the front wall to guide the driver 10 and the staples S as the latter are driven. The lower edge of web 8 is notched centrally to provide an opening into which the toe 53 of the forming bar 55 extends to position toe 53 between the legs of a staple fed into driving position. See Figures 1 and 4.

Web 8 of the gate '7 has flanges 9 which extend rearwardly along both sides of the device and are pivoted on pin 21. The gate 7 can be suitably secured to the frame 1 as by welding or it can be releasably held by screws or other means.

A rear jaw 30 has spaced apart plates 31 to provide a centrally located opening through which staples can be fed and plates 31 are spaced rearwardly from and parallel to web 8 of the gate 7 to provide a slot in which the left and right hand die plates 35 are operably mounted. Extending towards each other a slight amount from the lower inwardly vertical edges of plates 31 are shoulders 2 and the forwardly surfaces of the latter act as the rearward guide walls for a staple as the latter is driven. See Figures 1 and 2.

The vertical edges of plates 31 above its shoulders 32 have flanges 33 formed forwardly to butt against web 8 of the gate 7 and these flanges act as sidewardly walls to guide the staples S into position beneath the driver 16. Plates 31 are joined along their bottom edges by the horizontal rearwardly extending flange 34 to form the rear jaw 30 and it is secured to the gate 7. Sec Figures 1 and 2.

The die plates 35 are disposed on both sides of the device in the slots between the web 8 of the gate 7 and the plates 31 of the rear jaw 30, and are pivoted on eccentric shafts 18 supported in web 8 and plates 31 as shown in Figure 2. The die plates 35 have inwardly projecting lower ends 36 and the latters angled portions 19 are efiective to bend at opposite angles and impart a twist to the legs of a staple progressively as it is driven downwardly therebetween as will be described more fully later. The projections 36 are sharpened as is clearly shown in Figure 7 to facilitate partial penetration thereby of a thickness of the material to be stapled. The upper ends of the die plates 35 are shaped as at 37 to bear on the edges of the body portion of the driver 10. This limits outward movement of the projections 36 until the driver has reached its lowermost position as shown in Figure 8 and notches 11 in the edges thereof have become aligned with the upper ends 37 of the die plates 35.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the driver 10 is in its starting or raised position to thereby permit the staple S to be fed into driving position beneath the driver 10. Arms 38 are pivoted on pins 39, the latter being supported in aligned holes in the forwardly pressed sections 60 of the web 8 of the gate 7 and the plates 31 of the rear jaw with the centrally extending portions of arms 38 having been moved and held upwardly by contact with the centrally located lug 13 of the driver 10 when the driver 10 was moved upwardly to its raised position. It will be noted in Figure 2 that the short rearwardly extending flanges 40 of arms 38 are in contact with and have moved the uppermost portions of the outwardly edges of the die plates towards each other and that thereby the projections 36 of the die plates have been moved away from each other and are rigidly held apart, just as described, when the driver is moved to its raised position.

The inverted U-shaped staples S straddle the U-shaped staple guide 43 and are held downwardly thereon by the overlying hold-down member 44. The staples S are moved forwardly along the guide 43 to the driver 10 by a staple pusher or follower 41. See Figure 1. The staple follower is of inverted U shape in cross-section and is of the same configuration as the staples. It is moved forwardly by a coil spring 42, one end 45 of which is secured to an upturned end 46 of the staple guide 43. The spring passes around a pulley 47 located at the forward or one end of the staple guide 43 and its other end 43 fits over a pin 59 which is carried by the pusher 41. See Figure 1.

The operation of the fastener device is as follows. As shown in the starting position in Figure 1, a supply of staples S is on the staple guide 43 and the pusher 41 through the feeder spring 42 has moved the leading staple forwardly against the rearwardly side of web 8 of gate 7 and thereby vertically beneath the raised driver 10. The hand-lever 20 is rotated clockwise on its pivot point 21 from the position shown in Figure 1. As the hand-lever moves clockwise, the distance between the pivot point 24 and the pivot of the swivel block 22 on the rearward end of the hand-lever 20 decreases, thereby compressing the driving spring 26. It will be seen that in Figure l the pivot pin 24 which connects the bolt 23 and the rocker arms 15 lies below a line connecting the pivot pin 17 and the pivot of the swivel block 22 on the hand-lever 20. So long as this condition exists, while the hand-lever is being rotated in a clockwise direction the driving spring 26 is being compressed and the spring is exerting its pressure in such direction as to tend to rotate the rocker arms 15 clockwise and to maintain the staple driver 10 in its raised position, the raised position of the driver 10 being determined by contact of the driver 10 with stops 49 on the guide plates 5. When the hand-lever has reached the position shown in Figure 3, the driving spring 26 will have been compressed and pin 24 will be slightly above a line connecting the pivot pin 17 and the pivot of the swivel block 22 on the hand-lever 20. In this position the spring 26 tends to rotate the rocker arms 15 counterclockwise and to lower the staple driver in fastener applying direction to the position shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3 it will be noted that the thrust washer 25 has been moved into contact with and thereby stopped by bracket 28 with nut 27 contacting the swivel block 22 to move the latter a short amount towards the thrust washer 25 to thereby compress the driving spring 26 to stop the driving stroke.

The structure of the device having been fully described and the means for actuating the driver to drive a staple having been explained, the method by which the staples legs are curved and twisted as the latter are inserted into the material will now be explained in detail. Assuming the parts are in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2, the device is placed on the multiple thicknesses to be secured together, 0. g., the lapped end and side fiaps 51 and 52 which are shown in Figure 5 whereupon the projections 36, because of their sharp edges, penetrate the upper thickness. The hand lever 20 is then rotated to the position shown in Figure 3 to thereby, as explained, result in the driver 1.0 being urged to drive the staple downwardly into the material.

The forming bar 55, which is similar to and performs the same functions as the one shown in my Patent No. 2,427,028, is pivoted by its arms 56 on transversely c7.- tending pins 57, the latter being supported in flanges 9 of the gate 7 and by brackets 58, the latter being fixed to the gate 7. See Figures 1 and 4.

The upper surface of the toe 53 of the support or forming lever 55 slopes downwardly and then rearwardly to thereby be straddled by the entering ends of the legs of the leading staple when in the starting position. See Figures 1 and 4. As a result, the crown of a staple being driven tends to displace the toe 53 of the forming lever 55 to thereby tilt the latter as illustrated in Figure 3. The toe 53 is held in staple-supporting position by the engagement of the cam surface 54 of the forming lever 55 rubbing the upper forwardly edge of the driver 1.0 and tilting of the lever 55 is permitted only when the driver 10 has descended SlllTlClClltlY to permit a portion of the cam 54 to pass beyond the upper forwardly edge of the driver 10. See Figures 1 and 3.

As already stated, the upper surface of the toe 53 supports the crown of the staple. At the same time, the side surfaces of the toe supports the unbent portions of the staples legs, thereby preventing bending of the staples at the corners thereby insuring the progressive bending of the staple legs as the latter is driven. The staples legs are confined, as they descend, between the sides of the toe 53 and the flanges 33 of the rear jaw 30. See Figures l and 2. The forwardly surfaces of shoulders 32 of the rear jaw 30 serve as guides for the backs of the staples legs and the rearwardly surfaces adjacent to the vertical edges of the notch in the lower part of the web 8 of the gate 7 serve as guides for the front of the staples legs.

As shown in Figure 4, as the driver 19 moves downward to drive a staple, its lug 13 moves away from contact with arms 38 and flanges 40 of arms 38 thereby no longer restrain the die plates 35 as previously explained and therefore as the staple is being driven downward by the driver 10, the latters bumps 12 engage the 5 upper ends 37 of the die plates 35 to thereby shift the latters projections 36 inwardly to their staple bending position. In the latter position, the lower ends of the staple legs are engaged by the oppositely beveled portions 19 of the projections 36 of the die plates 35, the

legs thereby being bent inwardly at opposite angles and twisted so as to turn the width of the staple legs towards a vertical plane to thereby strengthen the legs of the staple against being unbent and to increase the area of the material being stripped by the staple.

After the staple has been clinched into the material, the driver continues downward a short amount with ends 37 of the die plates 35 thereby becoming in alignment with notches 11 of the driver 16 to thereby release the die plates 35 from their staple bending position. The driver 10 after continuing downward after the staple is clinched extends slightly below the body of the device and thereby lifts the device slightly upwardly to thereby pull the die plates 35 upwardly from engagement with the staple.

I claim:

1. Stapling mechanism comprising a frame, a driver reciprocable therein, a staple guide extending at an angle to the path of the driver and terminating adjacent thereto, and die plates on said frame adjacent said path, said plates having angled projections extending inwardly thereof and effective to bend inwardly and to twist the legs of a staple delivered along said guide and driven downwardly by said driver so as to turn the width of said legs towards a vertical plane to strengthen the latter against being unbent.

2. in a stapling device, a driver reciprocabie therein, a staple guide extending at an angle to the path of the driver and terminating adjacent thereto, and die plates pivoted on said device adjacent said path, said plates having knife-edged projections below the end of said path, extending inwardly thereof, adapted to penetrate the material to be stapled and effective to impart a curve to the legs of a staple delivered along said guide and driven downwardly by said driver, said die plates also having means adjacent their upper ends adapted to engage said driver as the latter is driven downwardly for shifting and then holding said projections in staple bending position and means pivoted on said device adapted to cooperate with said driver and said die plates to shift and hold the latters projections out of staple bending position when said driver is moved upwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,427,028 Spencer Sept. 9, 1947 2,488,940 Schafroth Nov. 22, 1949 2,617,097 Spencer Nov. 11, 1952 

